The Excerpt podcast: Can Jon Stewart make The Daily Show must-see TV for a new generation?

On this episode (first released on February 15, 2024) of The Excerpt podcast:

With a bit more gray in his hair, but the same amount of sarcasm and satire, Jon Stewart is back in the anchor chair at the Daily Show. The comedian, turned news and culture phenomenon, helped put the show on the map while serving as host for 16 years. Signing off last in 2015, he is back to voice his outrage and humor as executive producer and host of the show every Monday through the 2024 election. But why did he decide now was the time to return? USA TODAY Entertainment Reporter Marco Della Cava joins The Excerpt to talk about whether the Stewart of old can still capture the hearts and minds of audiences of today.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Jon Stewart:

Look at me. Look what time hath wrought.

Dana Taylor:

With a bit more gray in his hair, but the same amount of sarcasm and satire. Jon Stewart is back in the anchor chair at the Daily Show. The comedian turned news and cultural phenomenon helped put the show on the map while serving his host for 16 years. Signing off last in 2015, he is back to voice his outrage and humor as executive producer and host of the show every Monday through the 2024 election. But why did he decide now was the time to return?

Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Thursday, February 15th, 2024, and this is a special episode of The Excerpt. I'm joined now by USA Today entertainment writer, Marco della Cava to talk about whether the Stewart of old can still capture the hearts and minds of audiences today. Marco, thanks so much for joining us.

Marco della Cava:

You bet. Good to be here.

Dana Taylor:

So Jon Stewart had a new show on Apple TV, which only lasted a couple of seasons. It was canceled last year. Why do you think he came back to the Daily Show?

Marco della Cava:

Well, Dana, he has himself said, I think it was on Good Morning America recently, that it was over differences of opinion of what he should talk about. I think specifically what's been hinted at is issues related to China and AI, obviously, apple, like many tech companies, is big into AI. He probably wanted to make fun slash be critical about it, and perhaps they had a difference of opinion and he said, look, if I'm going to do a show, I need to be able to do what I want to do. And the Daily Show probably said, well, you could do it here.

Dana Taylor:

So does Stewart just need a pulpit to rant and rave, or is he dedicating his return to try and make an impact on society and voters?

Marco della Cava:

I think the timing is deliberate. Obviously, as he says, we have nine months to go before an important, if very much deja vu, election. So to some degree, I don't think he could resist coming back and helping, I guess, helping make sense of things is the way he puts it. I mean, he's an equal opportunity skewer. He'll skewer Trump as quickly as he will skewer Biden, but I think he just likes to be out there to make some points that makes people think. Now, he's only doing it one day a week. He'll sort of help oversee the rest of the show, but it's very much a throwback kind of moment. As you said, he is been gone for many years, nine years. That's a lot in TV and so much has changed. We get our news from TikTok and very brief things. So the question is, will this work?

Initially, the ratings from that first return on Monday night have been tremendous. Maybe no surprise there. But the question is, will that translate to good ratings for the rest of the correspondents who anchor the shows the other days of the week, and then will people come back to see Jon every Monday for the next nine months?

Dana Taylor:

Marco, as you mentioned, nine years has passed since he last hosted the show. The Daily Show has a new generation of viewers. Do you think that Stewart's brand of political satire will resonate with them?

Marco della Cava:

It's a really good question, and honestly, I don't think we know the answer. And if he were anchoring this every day of the week or Monday through Thursday like he used to, then we could tell quickly from ratings whether that younger generation appreciates his approach to all this. So I think it's savvy in some ways to say, look, you'll get me one day a week, and who's he going to get? He's going to get me. I'm exactly his age and I grew up with him on TV, whether it was being funny or literally breaking down in tears after 9/11. So for many people my age, 50s, maybe early 60s, it's a no-brainer to... It would be like if Seinfeld or Friends came back, that's what it's like.

Dana Taylor:

Well, skip passed the part of him making fun of his own age since you've lumped yourself in with him. While he was trying to figure out what to do with his extra time, the Daily Show had some trouble finding its footing. What does this reunion mean for Jon Stewart and for the show?

Marco della Cava:

Well, you're right, they had a rough time. The only person who really had notable success was Trevor Noah, who really created his own show remarkably, and then had his own show, everyone else has sort of struggled. I think it's an opportunity for Jon to both do his thing on Monday, and then as executive producer, try and see if there's a viable way forward with a new generation, for a new generation when he wraps it up after the election, assuming he wraps it up.

Dana Taylor:

Well, Stewart was able to transform the Daily Show before, is he going to stick to his old shtick or will he need to innovate again to help ratings?

Marco della Cava:

If Monday night was any sort of gauge, it's very much his usual shtick, which if you like his shtick, is still funny. It still works. I mean, he is got the eye rolls, the goofy voices, the Borscht Belt comedian thing. It's a uniquely Stewart thing, and I think it would be crazy if he just decided to reinvent himself and do something totally different because that's not why you watch him. But again, it's only one day a week. So he can help the other people sort of develop their own voices. And to his credit, the correspondents made fun of him on the first show for being basically an old white guy who came back to save the show, and they sort of were saying, we don't need your help, but maybe they do.

Dana Taylor:

So again, he's only going to host on Mondays leaving that anchorage open to the correspondents the rest of the week. What do you think of this strategy? Do you think that it's going to work and keep viewers tuned in?

Marco della Cava:

It's as good a strategy as the Comedy Central folks can hope for. I mean, he is the Daily Show, and to have that guy, it would be like in the ancient days if Johnny Carson came back one night a week to help save or revitalize the Tonight Show, that's kind of what's going on here. I think it remains to be seen.

I mean, the one thing I really miss, and maybe they'll resume it, or maybe I've missed the Daily Show and they still do it, but I really miss the sort of the Samantha Bee going out and interviewing somebody who had no idea who she was or what show she was from, and she and others, correspondents would get these amazing interviews with people who had no clue that they were going to be on national TV. The Daily Show, at this point, is probably too famous for that. So what we saw Monday night was sort of correspondents fake standing in front of a diner and talking about what Trump and Biden constituents were feeling, but what I missed was, where are the interviews with actual constituents? So maybe they'll come back with some of that and Jon could have some influence on that since that became a signature thing for people like Samantha, like Stephen Colbert like Steve Carell. I mean, amazing when you think about it.

Dana Taylor:

Well, how do you think the newest edition of The Daily Show is going to compete with other late night shows in the likes of Bill Maher and John Oliver?

Marco della Cava:

I guess, it's all down to sort of how we view and how we share things. Everything is sort of 10 seconds, 15 seconds. I mean, I have kids and they're not going to sit down and watch a 30 minute or an one-hour show ever. So if Jon and the rest of the gang can sort of get things to go viral, I guess, that's really the Comedy Central social media team's job. But in that way, they can be relevant in a 2024 way, but just to rely on people showing up at 11 PM like they used to do or they would DVR things, again, these are sort of ancient terminologies now, but these days they're going to have to get people to watch this episodically much the way SNL works now. I don't know who stays up and watches 90 minutes of it. I guess, if you're up, you'll do it. Most of us check the next day and see, oh, what were the four funny sketches? So it may work like that.

Dana Taylor:

Will about nine months of being back on the Daily Show be enough for Stewart, or do you think that he might stick around?

Marco della Cava:

That's a great question because I think if it goes well and the ratings are good, there'd be ever incentive to keep him around. Now, he left, what was it, 2015, nine years ago. In the interim, he produced a movie, fought very hard for victims at Ground Zero on Capitol Hill to get them medical benefits that they were losing. And of course, he came back with this Apple show, which didn't quite work. So the question remains, what would he want to do? I don't know that he needs to do anything. He probably wants to do something and for now, this is it. I think it'll be pretty obvious in nine months whether he's tired of it or it didn't work or the election's over, you don't need me anymore. My guess is he'll find something else to do.

Dana Taylor:

After the 2024 election is over, where will the Daily Show go from there?

Marco della Cava:

I think the Daily Show is sort of, I wouldn't say on notice, but this is a great nine-month window to really kind of hit its stride with a guy at the helm who basically made the show infamous. And I think if it's not working and firing on all cylinders and doing well with him one day a week and the other people, the other three days, then who knows. It could be time to wrap it up because certainly before he came back, you could legitimately question whether the show really had legs anymore because they just were having such a hard time finding anyone to replace Jon and to replace Trevor. It just wasn't happening.

Dana Taylor:

Marco, thank you so much for being on The Excerpt.

Marco della Cava:

My pleasure.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks to our senior producers, Shannon Ray Green and Bradley Glanzrock for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to [email protected]. Thanks for listening, I'm Dana Taylor. Taylor Wilson will be back tomorrow morning with another episode of the excerpt.